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Helicobacter pylori is a risk factor for gastric cancer. Some studies show that preneoplastic mucosal changes improve with H. pylori eradication. Investigators in Sweden tested this hypothesis by comparing gastric cancer incidence among 95,000 patients (contributing 350,000 person-years at risk) who were treated for H. pylori and the background Swedish population.
During follow-up (maximum, 7.5 years), 75 patients (0.1%) developed gastric adenocarcinoma, mostly noncardia (69). The risk for gastric cancer was initially elevated after H. pylori eradication (standardized incidence ratio [SIR], 8.7, for years 1 to 3 posteradication), then declined during years 3 to 5 (SIR, 2.0), and was eventually lower compared with the general population durin…